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QR codes are great for printing machine readable URLs if you have a square space. But they look horrible if placed in a text as they are much taller than a line of text.
Is there a way I can have a 1d-barcode with the same functionality as QR code (URL being the most important feature) so it can be put as text in a normal paragraph without special formatting?
If yes: How do I generate those barcodes?
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Using software like Barcode Reader, you can either enter a URL directly or if you only have the image of the QR Code, it can be uploaded and read. QR Codes, in general, are machine-readable only so it's best to find a cell phone and use a scanning app, which can be done with just a quick tap of a button.
The main difference between barcodes and QR codes is one of physical dimensions. Barcodes can be scanned in a line. This means that data is limited to what can be placed in that one stretch of stripes. QR codes, on the other hand, add another dimension from which information can be written and scanned.
There are a few different barcode generators out there, but to add the barcode to your website most require you to create the barcode, download it, then upload it to your website. Here is an option using the barcode generator at http://posguys.com/barcode to generate a permanent barcode that you can hot link to.
There're different barcode symbologies that can encode text. The main problem is how much text you want to encode and which apps are you going to use to decode the barcode.
If you're using an URL shortener and you want to stick to a 1D barcode, CODE128 is probably the best choice.
Another option could be a PDF417, it's a 2D barcode but is not square like QRCode. In this case you can encode more chars in less space and this symbology is supported by iOS and the major Barcodes library.
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